


(Could) Ha(l)ves

by MayAChance



Category: Pacific Rim (2013), Pacific Rim - Movies
Genre: Descriptions of Injuries (Non-Graphic), Drift Bond, Drift Side Effects, Fix-It, Gen, Ghost Drifting, Post-Drift (Pacific Rim), Post-Knifehead, The Drift (Pacific Rim)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-30 06:27:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17218694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MayAChance/pseuds/MayAChance
Summary: In the aftermath of Knifehead, Raleigh realizes just how lucky they were. Because so many things could have gone differently - could have fallen, could have been ripped from the Pod, could have broken something vital, could have pierced a lung, could have hit his head so hard that he would never come back - that would have ended in disaster, but none of them did.





	(Could) Ha(l)ves

**Author's Note:**

> This had the working title of Becket Bros fluff (allegedly) because no one should ever allow me near characters with tragedies because I make it all better again and where is the good in that.

I came to screaming.

Frozen air rushed through my throat, scratching over the delicate flesh so that the sound which emerged from my lungs was broken and dry, more brittle than the bone of a bird. Every new breath hurt almost as much as the next exhale.

There were hands on my shoulders, two different sets to each shoulder, pressing me back against a thin mattress. “Ranger,” someone was saying, repeating my title again and again. “It’s alright. You need to relax. Dr. Williams is going to fix you right up.”

_ Who? _

I thrashed against them, breaking free for half a second and sending on hand flailing into someone’s face. They muffled a curse, and then all of them were back on me. I crumpled against the mattress, gasping.

“Yancy?” I whispered, and the name hurt more than the action.

A calloused hand gripped my face, thumb stroking over the little cut on my cheek. “Raleigh, are you listening?” Zeke’s voice, catching over my name.

“Yancy?”

“He’s being treated, Raleigh. They’re in surgery right now, and I swear that we will tell you as soon as we know more.” His fingers drummed against my cheek. “Emma and Keanu are waiting for news.”

I could hear Zeke calling over his shoulder, to the doctors, but he never left my side. Even as the doctors stitched the lacerations on my shoulder and side, and examined my eyes for any sign of a concussion, he remained at my side.

With Zeke on my left, Ilisapie guarded my right.

Fitting; in Chrome Brutus, she piloted the right hemisphere.

In medical, she mostly just held my hand, the gentle pressure grounding me in a sea of chaos. “You and Yancy are going to be just fine, kiddo,” she told me, squeezing my hand for good measure. “As soon as he is out of surgery, they’re going to wheel him in here, and then you’ll see for yourself.”

The last of my wounds attended to, the doctors cleared out, leaving me with only Ilisapie and Zeke. The room quieted.

I felt my eyes slipping shut, knew Zeke and Ilisapie were exchanging a glance over my head, and jolted back to wakingness. My eyes flew open to both cousins staring at my. “It’s okay, Rals,” Ilisapie assured me. “You can rest.”

A stab of pain shot through my middle, and Zeke stroked my shoulder gently. “You getting Drift pain?” I nodded, and grimaced as the pain cut deeper - as if someone were cutting me open and sewing me up again.

He rubbed my shoulder and smiled down at my. “I’ll fetch you some painkillers.” As he left, he mumbled under his breath; “Dumbasses.”

Just as Zeke returned with Dr. Williams, the pain changed, as if the skin of my stomach were being pierced. “They’re sewing him up,” I murmured to Ilisapie.

She squeezed my hand again. “That’s a good thing,” she murmured. “He will be fine in just a few weeks, and you two will be back in Danger, and everything will go back to normal.”

“No more solo?”

“No more solo,” a voice assured me from the entrance of the room. “Ranger Becket,” Marshal Pentecost greeted me. “They are finishing surgery now. Your brother should be out within the next half hour or so.” He paused, taking a deep breath. “Ranger, after this incident, I intend to discuss with both the brass, and the other Marshals, the topic of solitary deployments. Had we deployed Danger alongside Cherno, or Eden Assassin, I have no doubt that she would not be so severely damaged, and nor would your brother be in surgery. For not forcing this discussion earlier, I owe you an apology.”

I blinked at him; “You didn’t know, and neither did we. No one’s fault.”

Shame burned in my gut, as if to consume me, as the doctors finished the last stitch on Yancy, pulling the string tight and then cutting it off.

Ilisapie poked me. “That includes you, Raleigh.” She shifted to nod at Pentecost. “Thank you for stopping by, Marshal. In wake of this incident, I am sure you have a good deal of paperwork. Zeke and I will keep an eye on Raleigh, while Team Mammoth is with Yancy.”

“Of course,” Pentecost nodded. Before he left, he looked back at me. “Ranger? You and your brother did well.”

Only a few minutes after Pentecost left did Keanu Akana arrive; the Hawaiian military man piloted Mammoth Apostle’s right hemisphere, while Emma Murphy took left hemisphere. Unlike her partner, Emma was born and raised Alaskan, without an ounce of military experience before joining the PPDC.

He grinned down at me, warm face curving gently. “They’re bringing Yancy here now. He’s in rough condition, but the doctors are confident that he’s going to make it, and there’s nothing to suggest that he will have any permanent injuries. Just some PT and time for the bones to heal.” Leaning down, Keanu reached to pat my ankle through the sheets, their rough texture grating against my skin.

Just as he did, the door’s to my room opened again, but this time it was his copilot, Emma. She held the door for a pair of nurses, wheeling between them a hospital bed.

Still unconscious was my brother, head tilted so that I could see his face.

He looked terrible; one eye was swollen black, and both cheeks bore small lacerations. His hair - golden brown and fluffy - stuck to his forehead with sweat that had long-since dried. But he was alive. Ilisapie squeezed my hand. He was alive, and that was all that I could ask for.

Emma plopped down in a chair next to Ilisapie’s, both of them between me and Yancy.

“You up for the full list, Becket two-point-oh?” I nodded. “Okay; he broke three ribs in the fall, and there was some internal bleeding as well, probably from getting slammed around the Pod like that.” I nodded again; Yancy’s rig had been completely wrecked by Knifehead, leaving him defenseless. Thank God he hadn’t fallen. “He’s concussed, and though concussions are always serious, there’s nothing to suggest a TBI or brain bleeding, Thank God. He fractured his collarbone, and broke his wrist. A lot of scratches and bruises, swelling all over the place; he’ll be getting an ice bath when he’s conscious, but that’s about it. He won’t need another surgery.” She sighed.

Keanu turned to me, taking over the speaking; they were ghost-drifting even as we spoke. “We got lucky, Raleigh. Real lucky.”

I roll onto my side to stare at him, and yeah, yeah we did. He could have fallen, could have been ripped from the Pod, could have broken something vital, could have pierced a lung, could have hit his head so hard that he would never come back.

_ But he did _ , I reminded myself.  _ He came back _ .


End file.
